Missouri's unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted, fell by one-tenth of one percentage point in March to 3.6% — down from February's 3.7%.

In real terms, 109,474 were jobless in the state in March, down from 114,288 in the previous month.

U.S. unemployment was down two-tenths of a percentage point to reach a pandemic-era low of 3.6% in April. Missouri's jobless rate has been at or below the national figure for the last five years, according to the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center,

In the week ending April 2, initial claims for jobless benefits nationally fell to 160,000, far fewer than the 200,000 economists had predicted with claim levels now falling back to what was seen before COVID-19 struck the U.S. in March 2020.

According to CNN, "America's labor market is on fire. There are far more available jobs than workers."

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